Code Lyoko Season Five: Too good to let go!
by imagination fantasy
Summary: This is a fanfic of Code: Lyoko. I loved the show and hate to see it go, so I'm continuing it myself! AxJ, YxU, OxOC.
1. Chapter 1

Code Lyoko Season Five

Intro:

I don't know about you, but I'm one of those people who hate to see a good thing slip away. Which is why I'm writing a continuation of Code Lyoko: because it's too good for me to leave behind.

Ok, so this takes place about a month after the Lyoko warriors turned off the Super Computer for good, or so they hoped…

Anyways, now they are still friends, but they have two additions to their group: Sissi and William, although Sissi still doesn't know their secret. Ulrich and Yumi are officially dating, as well as Jeremie and Aelita. Odd has yet to find his own true love.

The story starts up again with a new girl, Caitlyn, coming to Kadic from America. Caitlyn is the same age as Ulrich, Jeremie, Odd, Sissi, and Aelita, and has a kind of tough-girl, not-my-problem attitude. But she has some dark secrets, strange gifts, a mangled past, and may hold the key to defeating Xana once and for all…

I better stop before I give too much away. I'll post the first chapter within a week.


	2. Episode One

Season Five:

Episode 1: Restart: Parts A, B, and C

_Quick note: This is divided into various parts because I knew the intro episode would be a lot longer than all the other ones, so think of each part as the rough estimate of the length of the other episodes._

Part A:

Odd Della Robbia sighed and stared blankly out the window. Life had been so boring since they had shut off the Super computer and deleted Lyoko. Good, but bland. Aelita would sometimes go off on her own to cry for her father, with Jeremie following to comfort her. Ulrich and Yumi spent too much time wrapped around each other to be much fun, and William and Sissi would go with them; the four had become good friends, although Sissi and William were more than a little jealous of Ulrich and Yumi. It seemed he was the only one who was about to die of boredom.

"Odd!" Ms. Hertz shouted sharply. "Apparently you were too busy daydreaming to realize I was talking to you."

Odd was jolted back to reality. "N-no, Ms. Hertz, I was listening!"

"Oh really? Well then answer my question."

Well… I don't know the answer to it." Odd did his best to look appropriately confused, as though he really was trying to figure out the problem.

"Come on, Odd! It's not that hard a question! Can you allow the new girl, when she gets here, to tack the seat beside you?!" Ms. Hertz was fighting to keep an exasperated yet amused look off her face as the rest of the class laughed.

"Oh, uhh… sure?"

"Thank you. Now class, as I was saying before I brought Odd back from his own little world, we have a new student joining us today from America. Her name is Caitlyn Reynolds, and I would like for you all to be very kind to her; she was transferred here with some other kids as part of a program for orphaned teenagers who aren't officially adults yet. And don't mess around with her just because she's an orphan—the only difference between you and her is that you have parents and she doesn't."

Aelita sniffled in her seat beside Jeremie, and he put a comforting arm around her; he knew she was thinking about her parents, whom were both gone.

The door opened and closed in the space of two seconds. A bored looking girl with fiery, long red hair that formed a halo around her head and brilliant, emerald green eyes looked around and said, in almost perfect French with just a hint of an American accent, "Hello, I'm Caitlyn Reynolds. Is this Ms. Hertz's room?"

"Yes, you're in the right place, sweetie." Ms Hertz smiled warmly at Caitlyn as the rest of the class looked at each other in amazement; Ms. Hertz was never this nice, not to anyone, and she most certainly had never, _ever_, called anyone "sweetie". "You'll be sitting right there, beside Odd Della Robbia." Ms. Hertz motioned to the empty seat beside Odd, which had been vacated by Ulrich when Ms. Hertz moved him in an effort to keep them from talking in the middle of class all the time.

"Hi." Odd whispered as Ms. Hertz started class back up. "I'm Odd Della Robbia."

Caitlyn glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "I gathered that much from Ms. Hertz's intro."

"Oh, yeah." Odd looked away sheepishly.

"You're not the brightest are you? Or maybe you are smart, but you're trying too hard to be nice to me because I'm here for—," Odd cut her off.

"Yeah, yeah you're here because your part of a 'program for orphaned children'." Odd was starting to get kind of annoyed.

Caitlyn smiled, and there was real warmth in her face. "That's better." Briefly she looked confused. "Did you say a 'program for orphaned children'?"

Odd was about to reply when Ms. Hertz interrupted, "Odd! Stop distracting Caitlyn!"

He looked over at Caitlyn, but she was bent over her notes, and didn't say anything more for the rest of the class period.

***

It was lunchtime. The gang was all sitting at a table except for Odd.

"Where _is_ he?" Ulrich wondered. "It's one of his three most favorite times of the day, and it's the one period he'd never miss: lunch." He took a bite of his food and just managed to get it down without spitting it out again. "Maybe he got a taste of this junk and snuck out to get some real food."

"Although, knowing Odd, he'd probably just eat it anyways." Aelita smiled.

"He'll show up eventually." William was about to eat a bite, thought better of it, and put his fork back down.

"He'd better." Ulrich muttered.

"Hey, you know who else is missing?" Sissi looked around. "That new girl, Caitlyn. Do you think they could be together?"

"He hardly knows her!" Jeremie exclaimed as Yumi asked, "Who's Caitlyn?"

"New girl from America, she's here with some orphan program." Ulrich answered her. To Jeremie, he said, "He _was_ talking to her a little in science."

"I guess…"

"I agree with William; he'll show eventually." Yumi ended the conversation about Odd.

Odd, meanwhile, was eavesdropping on a rather private conversation between Caitlyn and Ms. Hertz.

"—just say you misunderstood the French meaning of the phrase, and he'll believe you." Ms. Hertz was saying.

"You still haven't answered my question!" Caitlyn's voice was heated.

Ms. Hertz sighed, "I told them what I was instructed to. We didn't want the other students asking more questions than necessary. And it wasn't entirely a lie; after all, you are an orphan."

"But that's not why I'm here." Caitlyn muttered. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. _Very_ grateful. I was just… curious, that's all."

Caitlyn left the room, closed the door behind her, and paused. She turned and looked directly where Odd had slunk to hide as she came out.

"You can come out, Odd." She sighed. "I know you're there."

Knowing he'd been caught, Odd crept out of his hiding place, a storage closet, thoroughly embarrassed.

"How'd you know I was there?" Caitlyn ignored his question and instead asked one of her own.

"Why were you eavesdropping on us?"

"I guess… I was just bored without L—," Odd stopped himself just short of saying "Lyoko" and igniting Caitlyn's curiosity. Caitlyn didn't appear to notice his stutter, but for some reason her perfect emerald eyes blazed.

"That's not a reason," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Give me a real one."

Startled, Odd rephrased his answer. "I was… curious. What you said in science left me wondering."

"Well, if you would do me the favor of not telling anyone what you heard, we'll be okay." Caitlyn began to walk towards the cafeteria, then turned back and said, "By the way, how much did you hear?"

"I heard Ms. Hertz say something about 'misunderstanding the French phrase', and I also heard that you aren't here for an orphan program. That… that's about it." Odd wasn't sure what set Caitlyn off yet, and was trying to be careful not to start up her temper.

"Well, in case you're wondering, I'm not going to tell you why I'm here. At least, not until I know I can trust you." Caitlyn was about to go to what remained of lunch when Odd asked, "How can I earn your trust?"

Caitlyn gave him a thin smile. "If the whole school doesn't know by the end of this week, I _think_ I'll be able to trust you."

"Can I tell my friends?"

Caitlyn grimaced. "I'd prefer it if you didn't. Maybe… after you've earned my trust."

"Alright." Odd sighed. At least there was something interesting now. He made a silent vow to himself he wouldn't tell a soul about Caitlyn's secret. Not even his friends. If only to learn the whole truth of it himself.

_So, the new girl has a secret, and Odd wants to figure it out. By the way, yes, this has practically nothing to do with Lyoko, but that will change very soon…_

Part B:

"_There_ you are." Ulrich sighed. "What took you so long?"

"I… wanted to ask Caitlyn a question." Odd had just gotten to the cafeteria and was making up his story as he went along.

"She _was_ kind of cute. I like her accent." Sissi mused.

Odd felt his face burning bright red, although Sissi's comment was extremely misleading. Caitlyn was pretty, but he wasn't really attracted to her. She was just too tough. Too strong. And something in her attitude just rubbed him the wrong way. Only blatant curiosity kept his manners in check.

"Looks like Odd's got crush on the new girl." Aelita smiled. "This time, you're the one blushing instead of me."

"Believe me, Caitlyn's pretty but she's not my type. Too tough." Odd made a face and sat down. "I'm starving; the food was all gone by the time I got in here. Can I take anyone's food off their hands?"

He took William and Ulrich's trays and wolfed them down.

"So Odd, what did you want to ask Caitlyn?" Yumi asked playfully as Odd shoved a forkful down.

"I uh… just wanted to know if she'd like to sit with us, because she's new and all. She said no." It seemed likely. If he _had_ offered her seat, she probably would've answered the same way.

"Sure." Yumi smiled knowingly. She glanced at a table to their left. "I wonder why she's sitting on her own, then. I'm assuming that _is_ her?" She pointed to where Caitlyn now sat, hunched over an empty tray save for an apple. She was eating the apple now; she hadn't been able to get any food either. "If she already said no, then it won't hurt to ask again, just to make sure, would it?"

Odd gulped. _If Caitlyn tells her a different story than the one I've just told her, I'm doomed_, Odd thought. Out loud, he said, "I… guess not."

Yumi drifted over to Caitlyn, shared a few words with her, and came back, looking quite taken aback. "You were right." She said to Odd. "She not your type. Too _rude_. I just ask her if she wants to sit with us, and she just mumbles, 'Obviously not, since your friend already asked and I said no'," She shook her head. "I was just trying to be nice, and—," she cut off as the lights flickered and went out.

The doors to the cafeteria slammed open, and Jim Morales walked in. "Everyone stay calm! We turned off the power on purpose. There is a dangerous man on the grounds, but if we all go through the procedures I was taught as a member of the French army, we will get out of this alive."

Several kids screamed, Sissi among them, and Millie, the newspaper journalist, fainted.

"Could it be Xana?" Ulrich whispered to Jeremie. "Could Xana be back?"

"No, how… how could it be? We destroyed Xana! Xana's gone!" Jeremie whispered fiercely as Jim told them all to remain calm and follow him.

"Well, why would terrorists attack _France? _Even more, a French _school_. We're no threat to them." Ulrich said.

"Maybe it isn't terrorists, just some psychopath who has a killing issue." Jeremie whispered.

"Maybe." Ulrich looked doubtful. "Isn't that a general definition for terrorists anyways?"

Jeremie rolled his eyes and kept walking forward. They had fallen behind the rest of the students and had to hurry to catch up. As they were going they passed Mr. Delmas and another teacher heading the same way.

"—a terrorist attack?" The teacher was saying.

"No." Mr. Delmas sounded tired and confused. "It's actually our Mayor. He's the one with the gun."

"Mayor Beauregard? But all his speeches focused on education!"

"I know, but we can't worry about that now. We have to focus on evacuating the school!"

Jeremie and Ulrich passed out of hearing range and sidetracked into a closet.

Jeremie and Ulrich exchanged a knowing, if pained, glance. "If it's Xana… I'll call Yumi. She can tell the others, William too?"

Jeremie sighed. "We may need him, and I don't think we'd be able to leave him behind anyways. But not Sissi."

Ulrich nodded. "Got it." He called Yumi and relayed the message. "Let's go."

They left the building, and, fortunately, didn't run into the Xana possessed Mayor. They reached the sewers just as the sound of bullets ripped overhead.

"Hurry!" Ulrich shouted.

They dropped the last few feet and grabbed their skateboard/scooters, which had been left as a memento to their time on Lyoko and, though none of them ever spoke of it out loud, just in case they ever needed them again. They heard bullets coming down the manhole that stopped when they left range.

"He must be going after the others!" Jeremie took out his phone and called Aelita. "Guys, be careful out there. I think he's coming for you!"

"J-jeremie! I-is it true? Is X-xana b-back?" Aelita's voice was shaking, along with the rest of her body.

"Yes, Aelita. I think it is." Jeremie gulped. "It—it's going to be alright. We've done this before. We can do it again."

"Are you so sure?" Aelita whispered. "Bye, Jeremie."

"Aelita, wai—!" Aelita clicked off the phone and held it to her chest for a brief moment. Then she turned to Yumi, William and Odd, who were all staring with wide eyes.

"Let's go." They ran across the school campus but were spotted by Jim.

"Hey, you!" Jim shouted. "Get back here! You can't go that way!" He started running after them and followed them into the park, but lost them when they went into the sewers.

"Wait." William said. "I don't have a skateboard." He glanced at Yumi as if asking for a ride.

"Run fast!" Yumi said, and sped off with Aelita and Odd towards the Factory. She hadn't approved of William coming in the first place, but she knew as well as Jeremie that they wouldn't be able to stop him. She hoped that maybe Xana was weak enough that they could deactivate the tower before William got there and keep any other attacks hidden from him.

They reached the Factory and took the elevator down to the Control Room.

Jeremie was sitting at the Super Computer. "Go down to the Scanners. I think I know how Xana's back, but that'll have to wait until you deactivate the tower."

They nodded and went down the Scanner Room.

"I'll send you to the Ice Sector. Ulrich will be waiting." He loaded the Scanners. "Transfer Odd, Transfer Yumi, Transfer Aelita. Scanner Odd, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Aelita. Virtualization."

They dropped onto the Ice Sector where Ulrich waited.

"The tower is north. I'm sending your vehicles!" The Overvehicles appeared. "Go! I don't think Xana'll have many guards but the Mayor has a gun and could hurt, maybe kill someone." Jeremie gulped. "He… already has."

"WHAT?!?" They all shouted.

"I'll explain later. Right now, focus on the tower."

The elevator doors opened, revealing William.

"Hey, William." Jeremie said. "I don't think they'll need you on Lyoko, but on Earth…" he trailed off and stared at him hard. "People could be hurt. People could die."

William nodded soberly. Normally, he would've argued that Jeremie just didn't want him on Lyoko, but whether or not that was true, what Jeremie was telling him was. He left and went back to the school to find the Xana-possessed Mayor. But as the elevator was closing its doors, a red-haired, green-eyed girl slipped in, escaping William's notice.

Part C:

Caitlyn rode the elevator down to the Control Room where Jeremie was wondering who was riding the elevator down.

"Who could that be?" He mused.

"Who could who be?" Yumi asked as she and the others were nearing the tower.

"Someone's coming down the elevator—guys watch out! Five Hornets, two Krabs, and two Megatanks are headed your way!" Jeremie turned at the sound of the elevator doors opening and dropped his jaw in astonishment when Caitlyn stepped out.

"Cool." She said, looking around. "I wondered what William was doing down here, so I entered the elevator after him." She looked at Jeremie and shrugged. "'Curiosity killed the cat' they say, but it has yet to do me in. I wasn't originally intending to follow you. I was just looking for shelter from whatever's going on at the school and saw William enter.

"You mean… you don't know?" Jeremie asked.

"Jeremie, who's there?" Aelita asked. They were having a somewhat rough time with all the monsters Xana had sent.

"Caitlyn, but, how? Why aren't you with the rest of the kids?" Jeremie asked.

"_Caitlyn's_ there?" Yumi said. "That rude new girl?"

"Uhhh, Yumi, I have you on speaker. She can hear you." Jeremie mumbled and switched back to the headphones.

"Well, it's true!" Yumi said indignantly.

Jeremie was about to reply when Caitlyn cut him off. "It's okay. I know I was rude, but that was for Odd. So you wouldn't ask him anymore questions about me. I'm not a huge fan of people who pry into things that aren't their business, which is why I'm not asking any questions. I thought maybe there was something bad down here, but I don't see any threat to anybody from this really big computer."

"Actually," Jeremie said slowly. "This 'really big computer' is where Xana is attacking from. Xana possessed the Mayor and sent him with a gun to Kadic. If we don't stop it, a lot of people will be hurt or killed."

"What!?!?" Caitlyn exclaimed. "Well, then why don't you just shut it off if it's so dangerous?"

"We would, if that would do any good. However, Xana's not attached to this computer anymore. It's out in the network." Jeremie gave her a sidelong glance. "I thought you weren't going to ask questions."

"I also mentioned that it didn't _seem_ dangerous. Obviously, it is." Caitlyn paused and took a breath. "I'll do whatever I can to help."

This came as a surprise to Jeremie. "I know!" Caitlyn went on. "I'll go help the others at the school and keep this 'Xana' thing at bay."

As Caitlyn and Jeremie were discussing, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita were fighting on Lyoko.

"Energy Field!" Aelita hit one of the Hornets but was hit by a laser from a Krab. "How many life points did I lose Jeremie? Jeremie?! Jeremie!"

"Laser Arrow!" Odd shot twice and missed one Hornet but hit another.

Ulrich ran, jumped, and stabbed one Krab on its Eye. "Impact!"

"Hai!" Yumi threw her fans at the remaining Krab but missed. "What's he doing?"

"Sorry guys, I was talking to Caitlyn." Jeremie hadn't realized they were talking to him.

"Jeremie!" Aelita was somewhat annoyed. "How many life points do I have?"

"You have only 50 life points left!" Jeremie turned back to Caitlyn. "You can't go back there! It's dangerous! You could be killed!"

Caitlyn shrugged. "I've been in a similar situation before and lived. I'm surprisingly resilient. And anyways, I stopped caring about my life a while ago. I'm assuming I won't remember this anyways, that you have some way of erasing memories, otherwise you would've been found out before now and earlier attacks would've been all over the news." A sudden grin spread across her face. "Just to mess with you, I'm going to tell you a little secret that only one other kid knows: I'm not here because I'm an orphan. Even though I _am_ one, that's not why I'm here. And, since I'll forget this ever happened, if you ask me about it, I'll just get pissed at Odd."

With that, she left.

Odd had brought down the other Krab and another Hornet. Aelita had hit another Hornet, and Ulrich and Yumi joined forces to destroy a Megatank.

The last Megatank was charging up a blast. It fired the blast at Odd who was busy trying to get the last Hornet. He was hit and devirtualized just as he destroyed the Hornet.

"Odd!" Ulrich called as Yumi threw her fans at the Megatank which closed up before they got there.

Back on earth, Odd fell out of the Scanner and went up to join Jeremie.

"Where's Caitlyn?" Odd asked.

"She went back to school."

"What?" Odd was surprised. "Why?"

"I think she just didn't want anyone to be hurt. She's a strange girl. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen, and I'm needed here." Jeremie returned his attention to Lyoko. "Guys, could you hurry it up? We don't want anyone killed!"

"We're working on it Jeremie!" Ulrich called. The Megatank was charging again. It fired a blast at Ulrich who blocked it with his sword. Yumi threw her fans at it and managed to destroy it.

"Aelita, go!" Yumi called. Aelita nodded and ran into the tower.

As all this was happening, William was back at the deserted school, distracting the Mayor, who, for some reason had only fired in bushes and trees; he had never come close to hitting him. He also kept shouting, "_Where is she? Where is that girl?! She is the key to my power!_"

"Who are you looking for?" William shouted.

"_The girl, the girl of course!_" the Xana-possessed Mayor shouted back.

"What girl?" William was getting exasperated.

"_The one with all the Power!_"

Suddenly, the Mayor stiffened, and turned to look at Caitlyn, standing there in a defiant, bored position, with her head cocked to the side and her arms crossed lazily.

"_At last, at last! I've found you!_" The Mayor looked positively jubilant.

"_Caitlyn?!?_ Caitlyn is who you are looking for?" William looked at her. "Well, if you want her, you're not going to get her."

"_Are you going to stop me?_" the Mayor gave an evil laugh. "_Fine, then I shall have to exterminate you!_" He fired three shots, the first aimed shots, and they struck home. Only, not the "home" it had been intended for.

Caitlyn had stepped in front of William, and had been hit. Three times, in the chest.

Blood was pouring out of the wounds. Caitlyn, amazingly, was still conscious.

"William!" She screamed. "Take off your shirt!"

"What?!?" William was confused. "Why?"

"Press it to the wounds to stop the bleeding!"

Without a second thought, he did so, completely forgetting about the Mayor, who, luckily for them, had collapsed when the tower was deactivated.

"We have to do a return!" Jeremie said, back at the Factory. "Return to the past now!"

The white bubble came up and reversed time back to lunch.

"She is kind of cute. I like her accent." Sissi was saying.

Odd looked over to where Caitlyn had been sitting last time. To his surprise, she was gone.

"Where'd she go?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know." Odd stood up from the table. "But I'm going to find out." He left in search of Caitlyn.

As he passed the auditorium, he heard piano music coming from inside, along with someone singing in a different language that sounded like English. He peeked in and saw Caitlyn, sitting on the piano bench, playing a song and singing along with it. He had no idea what she was singing, but if he did, he would've heard:

"_He said, 'Son can you play me a memory? I'm not really sure how it goes, but it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger man's clothes._'"

He smiled, turned, and walked away.

_Quick note: I'm really hoping someone recognized those lyrics, because that's such a great song. 'Piano Man' by Billy Joel. And also, Matt, I read your review and I made some changes, but, as you can see, Caitlyn's arrival isn't really unquestioned, and if Xana _didn't _come back, there'd be no point at all. But, like I said, I did make some changes, so thanks for the advice. I don't read any fanfics save for those of James the lesser, so I don't really know what other people's are about._


	3. Episode Two

Episode Two: Dentists really are evil

_Quick Note: I know, the title's kind of weird, but it fits. By the way, last episode, I said that each part would be equivalent of one episode. However, I was wrong. Each episode will be approx. the length of parts A, B, and C of the last one put together. And I'm really sorry this took so incredibly long to finish! I had a lot going on and then I got grounded and was banned from the computer ,and ended up with a major case of _**WRITER'S BLOCK!**_(dun dun dun!) I also thought no one was reading, so didn't bother. Then I looked (cuz this account is on my other e-mail) and was like "Woah! People are actually reading this! So now I'm finally getting on! Also, I forgot to put a disclaimer on the last post, but I will put one now:_

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, or the show. Moonscope does! (although I do own Caitlyn XD)**

Caitlyn was sitting the counseling room with Moriah Smith, who had been her counselor with the program she had been transferred here with.

"Now Caitlyn, as you know, you have to have annual checkups and such just like everyone else," Moriah gave her a fake smile. Caitlyn never liked this woman; she always treated her like she was mentally retarded or unstable, as though her experiences had addled her brain. No matter what she did, Moriah's attitude towards her never changed.

"And today, we have a dental appointment scheduled for you! Won't that be fun?" Moriah gave that sickly sweet fake smile. Caitlyn stiffened and groaned. She had also never liked dentists; the thought of their hands in her mouth, poking around with their sharp metal scraper-thingies wasn't all that appealing.

"We're going to see an orthodontist to get your braces! Apparently, you have a cross-bite and some crooked teeth that need straightening," Moriah seemed unable to keep smiling at Caitlyn's determinedly expressionless face; she sighed and frowned. "You're scheduled to go at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Be ready, okay?" The smile was back.

Caitlyn sighed and grumbled an unintelligible answer that Moriah translated to mean "okay".

"Great! See you then!"

_Yeah_, Caitlyn rolled her eyes, _it's _really _going to be a blast!_

She stood up abruptly, mumbled something that could pass for "bye", and practically ran out the door and into Yumi Ishiyama.

"Watch it!" Yumi shouted as Caitlyn barreled into her. Caitlyn ignored her and kept on running. Yumi opened her mouth, then closed it again and continued walking to Jeremie's room in a huff.

She entered the room to find Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich already there.

"Good, you're here," Jeremie said. "Now all we need is Odd."

"Not William?" Yumi asked somewhat hopefully. She still didn't really trust him.

"Possibly," Jeremie said. "He's one of the subjects of this meeting."

Just then, Odd came in and the meeting started.

"Jeremie, you said you thought you knew how X-xana was back," Aelita said, trying to remain calm.

"Yes Aelita," Jeremie faced them. "This is what I think: Xana had another Super computer. It hid part of itself in that computer and severed all connections to the network so it wasn't destroyed by my multi-agent program. It was a good back-up plan, but when the rest of it was destroyed, Xana had to stay and bide it's time until it regained enough power to possess someone and send them here to turn back on the Super Computer so Xana could enter it. But, it was a weak possession, and the man ended up… dying of exhaustion. I found him, with his hand still on the switch. Dead."

Aelita gasped. Ulrich and Yumi held each other close. Odd gripped the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Luckily for us, I don't think Xana can do a very strong possession, which is why the Mayor had a gun, instead of just using his power," Jeremie continued after a moment of silence.

"Lucky? How is any of this _lucky_?" Aelita raised her eyebrows, her voice rising a couple octaves.

"It's not," Jeremie looked her straight in the eye. "None of this is."

All of them were silently brooding until a sharp rap on the door jolted them out of their reveries.

"It's me," William's voice said. "I know you're in there."

Somewhat reluctantly, Odd opened the door to reveal William.

"I know I'm not officially in the group right now," William began, cutting off any questions or accusations. "But I've got something really important to tell you," William looked deadly serious.

Jeremie looked around at the gang, who all nodded, even skeptical Yumi. "Alright, let's hear it."

William started talking in a rush, starting thoughts only to break off and start another. "When I was… distracting the Mayor… he would shoot, but never at me. He would shoot the bushes or the ground or the trees, but never me. And he kept screaming something about a girl being the key to his power. Then Caitlyn showed up and…"

William took a deep breath and continued. "He was _jubilant_. He started shouting about how, at last, he'd found the girl."

"_Caitlyn_?" Yumi was incredulous. "Caitlyn, that rude new girl? The orphan? _She's _what Xana's after? _She's_ the 'key'?"

"So it would seem," William replied.

"What happened then?" Aelita whispered.

"I tried to hold him back. I stood between him and Caitlyn, and he shot at me. Three times. Three well-aimed shots. And…"

William paused and Yumi interjected. "You were hit?"

"No. Caitlyn was," He looked around at them. "She was a good three or six meters behind me, yet somehow, she managed to step in front of me and take three shots to the chest. All I can really remember after that is a lot of blood and Caitlyn shouting at me to take off my shirt and press it to the wounds—," William broke off and shuddered.

An eerie hush had fallen over the Lyoko gang. Yumi broke the silence first.

"Then we did the return?" Yumi asked gently.

William nodded, unable to speak.

"There's something else strange about her…" Odd began. "Before the return, she was _in_ the lunchroom when Sissi made her 'comment'. The second time, she was in the auditorium."

"That's weird. No one who is affected by the return ever does anything different than what they did the first time around except when _we_ do," Aelita commented, glad to be on a much easier subject.

"She also figured out without me telling her that she wouldn't remember what had happened," Jeremie added.

"Really? How?" Ulrich asked

"She realized that we'd handled attacks of that sort before, and that they usually made such a big scene, it would've been all over the news and we would have been found out a while ago if we couldn't erase people's memories."

"Wow," Odd said. "She's got quite a mind in her head."

"We'll talk about Caitlyn and her oddities later," Ulrich said. "Right now, let's decide if William should be let back into the group. I vote… yes."

"Yes," Odd said. "He helped us out a lot last time."

"Yes," Aelita said. "We don't know how strong Xana is, or how strong it can become with Caitlyn. We may need him."

"Yes," Jeremie said. He looked at Yumi. "Yumi?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on Yumi," William pleaded. "Give me one more chance!"

Yumi closed her eye. "Fine. But only one chance. No more."

"I won't betray your trust," William said gravely.

Suddenly, Odd burst out laughing. He kept laughing for five minutes with everyone staring at him.

"Sorry," he said when he finished, gasping for breath. "That was so… overly serious," He smiled at William. "Welcome back, William!"

Jeremie recounted to William how he though Xana was back, then the meeting broke up. It was Friday, after classes, so Ulrich and Yumi were going out into town. They left first with William, Aelita and Odd making to follow, when Jeremie said, "Wait a minute Odd, I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure, Einstein, what is it?" Odd turned and walked back into the room.

"When Caitlyn came into the Factory, she mentioned to me she wasn't here because she was an orphan. She also said that since she'd forget about telling, if I talked to her about it at all, she'd just 'get pissed at Odd'," Jeremie raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. "Care to tell me what that's all about, Odd?"

"I uh…" Odd paused. "I overheard a conversation between her and Ms. Hertz talking about that, and she found out. She told me not to tell anyone… and if I didn't, she might tell me why she's really here."

"Fine," Jeremie turned back to his computer. "I just wanted to know."

Odd left the room, leaving Jeremie alone in the room to restart a bunch of programs which had been turned off when they had supposedly defeated Xana.

***

Caitlyn was waiting for the orthodontist to be finished with his patient. She twiddled her thumbs nervously; she had heard her brother complain often of how much _his_ mouth hurt when he got braces. Not that they had done him any good. They hadn't been on long enough for that.

Caitlyn shook her head in an effort to get rid of such dark thoughts. When her name was called, however, her eyes were moist with the pain of past loss.

Inside the office, she was told to sit in the chair and wait while the orthodontist came back with the numbing medicine.

But, as the orthodontist approached the medicine cabinet, black mist came out of an electric plug and attacked him. Xana took control of him and got much more medicine than was necessary, enough to knock Caitlyn out cold for a while.

The Xana-possessed orthodontist came back to where Caitlyn was waiting unawares.

"Now, this won't hurt a bit," He said, and pushed the medicine into her arm instead of her mouth. He was right, she didn't feel any pain, just the sense that she was falling, forever, into a sea of blackness.

As the world around her was shrouded in darkness, she heard a muffled voice say, "_Nighty night!_

***

"What is Xana trying to do?" Jeremie wondered. "I can't find anything about an attack on any of the news networks."

Jeremie was sitting at the Super computer, Aelita beside him. The Super scan was clearly showing an activated tower, but there was no sign of an attack anywhere. Everyone else was fine. They had all checked in and reported fine.

"Maybe…" Aelita paused. "Could this have something to do with that Caitlyn girl? Xana tried to get her last time. He could try again."

Jeremie jolted alert. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before? It's obvious! Does anyone know where she is right now?"

"I don't. I'll call them," Aelita took out her cell phone and called Odd.

"Odd? Do you know where Caitlyn is?"

"Caitlyn? Why…" Odd paused. "Is she being attacked?"

"That's what we think. It makes sense."

"No… no I don't. Sorry. I'm heading over there now," Odd hung up.

"I'll call William," Jeremie said and used the phone program to call William.

"William! Do you know where Caitlyn is?" William was with Yumi and Ulrich in the gym, training.

"No, why?" William asked.

"We think she's being attacked."

"Well, Ulrich, Yumi, and I are in the gym, and we don't know where she is."

"Just get over here as soon as you can. All of you!"

William hung up and turned to Ulrich and Yumi. "Xana's attacking Caitlyn. We need to go to the factory."

As they headed towards the sewer, Yumi commented, "As to _why_ Xana would want someone like _her,_ I'll never know. I always thought it liked people to defer to it. Caitlyn would never show that much respect to _anyone_, no matter who, or what, they are."

"Something happen today?" Ulrich asked with a sidelong glance at Yumi.

"She ran right into me, then ran away without so much as a 'sorry' or 'excuse me'," Yumi grumbled. "She _pisses me off!_"

"For the time being, we better make sure she is safe and away from Xana; who knows what it intends to use her for?" William said. "Although I do wonder as to why it has to be her. It _does_ seem really strange."

"Maybe Xana hopes she'll join him of her own free will," Yumi said in all seriousness.

"Maybe," Ulrich said. They had reached the sewers by now and were heading down when Odd came up to them.

"Hey," He said, gasping for breath.

They went down the ladder and through the sewers in silence.

Jeremie and Aelita were waiting for them in the Control Room.

"William, Yumi, and Aelita, go down to the scanners," Jeremie said. Before anyone could protest, he continued, "Odd, you need to see if you can find where Caitlyn is and Ulrich needs to stay her in case Xana brings her here. He'll probably try to scan her."

Both Odd and Ulrich had opened their mouths to protest. Then, seeing the sense of what Jeremie said, both reluctantly nodded consent. Odd and Ulrich took the elevator to the top and Yumi, William, and Aelita went down the ladder to the Scanner Room.

"I'm starting the transfer," Jeremie said. "Scanner Yumi, Scanner William, Scanner Aelita, Transfer Yumi, Transfer William, Transfer Aelita, Virtualization."

The three landed on Lyoko.

"Get going! The tower is 21 north, 34 east. I'm sending your vehicles," As Jeremie spoke, the Overvehicles appeared. "Hurry! We don't know what he needs Caitlyn for!"

They take off in the direction of the tower, Yumi on the Overwing, William on the Overboard, Aelita on the Overbike.

"Watch out! Five Hornets are coming your way."

"Well, Xana's not exactly sending a huge fighting force today, at least," Yumi surveyed the monsters blocking their way.

"Aelita, look out!" William shouted, diving in front of Aelita and blocking several well-aimed shots sent from the Hornets with his Zanbatou.

"Get to the tower, Aelita! We'll take care of the monsters," Yumi motioned for Aelita to run ahead and pulled out her fans. The Hornets fired at Aelita, but Yumi jumped between them and her.

"Hai!" Yumi threw her fans at the Hornets, destroying two of them. William leapt up and destroyed another.

"I don't like this," Yumi said. "It's too easy."

"Actually, Yumi," Jeremie's voice came over the speaker, "This probably isn't a trick. Xana isn't exactly in tip-top shape, you know. That last attack probably took a lot out of it; it was probably hoping that we'd ignore this attack, thinking it was a trap."

Yumi nodded (not that Jeremie could see her…) and threw her fans, destroying one of the last two Hornets. William easily dispatched the other one, and Aelita ran into the tower.

***

Caitlyn was barely conscious. Her mind was filled with a fog that had only begun to lift. She knew she was upside down, and that she was bouncing on something repeatedly, but that was it.

Slowly, she realized that she was being carried fireman-style on someone's shoulder and was bumping against their back. Her mind was still hazy, but she managed to gather this:

A) She was being kidnapped.

B) She wasn't bound.

C) She should probably try to get free.

After letting the fog clear a little more, she delivered a sharp kick to the stomach of her kidnapper, who doubled over. Falling to the ground, she saw that her attacker was her… _dentist?_ Why in the _world_ did he try to kidnap her?

That was her last thought before she felt excruciating pain in her calve and realized that her dentist had just stabbed her calve with a knife she hadn't realized he was holding. She gave a small cry of pain, but sucked it up, stood up and tried to run. Her bleeding leg hurt terribly, but she still had to try. Looking back, she saw him collapsed on the ground, completely knocked out.

_How did that happen?_ she wondered. She hurried on, trying to get back to school so she could find the nurse.

***

Odd was stumbling through the woods on-campus, searching blindly for Caitlyn. It was pure luck and chance that he met her, limping and swooning, leaning on trees for support. Her brow was beaded in sweat, and she panted heavily.

"Caitlyn!" Odd rushed over to her. "What… happened?"

"Damn dentist tried to kidnap me," Caitlyn growled, breathing heavily. "Shoved a knife in my leg."

"Your… dentist?"

"That's right. I need to… see the nurse."

"How far did you walk with that leg?" Odd looked at her blood-soaked pant-leg. It had been crudely bandaged with some fabric ripped from Caitlyn's shirt by the looks of it.

"Don't know. Don't know and don't care. I just don't wanna walk around with it anymore," Caitlyn said brusquely.

"Come on," Odd said, lending her his shoulder, which she tried to shrug off. "I'm trying to help you, you know."

"Fine, if you _really_ want me to, I'll lean on you."

Odd rolled his eyes. "Look, I know… a place where we can heal you instantly, and—"

Caitlyn cut him off. "'We?'"

"Me and my friends. We can explain to you why your dentist tried to kidnap you."

"Oh goodie. At least my leg won't be a bloody mess, and as a bonus, I get to learn why the _hell_ some random guy thought it would be a _brilliant_ idea to kidnap me!"

Ignoring Caitlyn's sarcasm, Odd replied, "He didn't _think_ about it at all. He was possessed."

"Possessed, huh?" Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a load of crap."

"Just come on, you'll believe it when you see it."

Odd led Caitlyn to the Factory, where they met up with Ulrich, and into the elevator.

"Why do I get the feeling that I've been here before?" Caitlyn asked out of the blue.

"Because you have."

Caitlyn looked at him quizzically before the elevator doors opened up to reveal Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, and William.

"Why did you bring _her_ here?!" Yumi demanded, glaring at Caitlyn, who simply raised her eyebrows at her.

"Still annoyed about me running into you, huh, Yumi Ishiyama?" she said bluntly.

"Why are you so rude? In Japan, we never—"

Caitlyn headed Yumi off. "Haven't you noticed? This isn't Japan, girl. This is France."

"Well, being rude in France as just as bad as being rude in Japan," Jeremie cut in.

Caitlyn sighed. "Fine. You wanna know why I'm rude? It's because I _can_."

"What?!?" Yumi exclaimed, outraged. "That's no reason! I want a real reason!"

"Then allow me to explain," Caitlyn seemed determined to memorize her ratty sneakers. "Do you realize just how many kids _can't_ be rude? That for them, saying 'yeah' instead of 'yes, ma'am' or 'yes, sir' means a broken jaw? Forgetting please means broken ribs? 'No' instead of 'no, thank you' means no food for a week?

"You don't think of rudeness as privilege, do you? Well, it is. Lots of kids would _love_ to be rude. In my opinion, rudeness is stating the truth without sugar-coating it. A lot of kids can't state the truth even _with_ sugar-coating it. If I can't give those kids a chance to be rude, I decided to use my privilege. Those kids, if they were in your position, would probably do the same thing as me. They would take their chance _now_, because _now_, they actually can."

Caitlyn finished her rant, cheeks burning, feeling she had said too much. Everyone else was shocked into silence for a minute.

"Caitlyn…?" Odd began hesitantly. "Is that… is that why you're here?"

Caitlyn nodded, eyes cast to the ground. "My mom died when I was six. My dad remarried, then _he_ died. My stepmom started abusing me and my brother right after that. For two years," Caitlyn gave a short, humorless laugh. "Her favorite game was 'Lock Caitlyn naked in the un-heated, un-air-conditioned basement with rats that would eat her alive if they could get at her where her only refuge is a small crate she can barely fit in and see how long she can survive without going completely _insane_.'"

"How long did she keep you in there?" Ulrich asked.

"At least two days, once for four days straight. I was hallucinating from lack of food, water and sleep by the time I got out. I only survived because it rained when I was in there and a window right above me was open. Made it cold as hell, but I got a little water."

"What happened to your… brother?" Yumi felt guilty for berating Caitlyn so much. She hadn't thought that she'd ever feel sorry for her.

"He died. She killed him," Caitlyn said it bluntly, but they could hear the pain in her words. "Can we please get off the subject? What about what Odd said you were going to tell me?"

The rest of the group all looked sharply at Odd, who shrugged. "Both of Xana's attacks have involved Caitlyn and her getting hurt," Caitlyn looked somewhat surprised to hear that she had gotten hurt and didn't know it, but then shrugged it off. "I thought she deserved to know."

"Wait, she's hurt? Where?" Aelita looked her up and down and gasped at her bloody leg. "H… how did that happen?"

"Xana possessed her dentist, made him kidnap her, and then stab her in the leg. I found her in the woods."

"Woah." Jeremie said. "If you were hurt, how did you get away?"

"He just sorta… keeled over, completely KO-ed," Caitlyn supplied.

Jeremie nodded. "Aelita must've deactivated the tower then."

"Tower? Does that have something to do with this Xana person? Is that how you stop him?"

Jeremie gave her a sidelong glance. "Last time, you said you wouldn't ask any questions."

Caitlyn sighed. "I probably did. But last time, it probably didn't involve me."

The gang led Caitlyn down to the Scanners, using the elevator because of her hurt leg. Jeremie explained the whole thing to her before having her step into a Scanner and racing up the ladder to start the scanning procedure. He made it back down in time to see Caitlyn come out.

"How do you feel?" Ulrich asked.

"Fine," Caitlyn looked down at her leg. "Much better in fact, now that my leg doesn't hurt like crap anymore."

"That'll probably happen again," Jeremie said, not wanting to hide the truth from her. "But at least now you know how to fight it."

"You're in for a hell of a ride!" Odd grinned evilly.

_Quick note: I hope you don't mind my minor cussing! I figured since Caitlyn had been abused and such, she'd have no problem cussing whatsoever. And 'a heck of a ride' didn't sound nearly as good._

_So, there's Caitlyn's little secret! Poor her, she lived a pretty rotten life. But maybe now it'll be better for her…_

_And sorry I took forever to update. To be honest, I completely forgot about this for a little while. But onw I'm back! Yays for mes!_


	4. AN

**A/N: hey, it's me. I totally JUST remembered that this story existed and am working on the third chappie now, so DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!!!! I have every intention of continuing this story. It won't be that long... I hope.**

**So please, bear with me here. I'll try to get it up by the end of the week.... sorry again!! Yes I know I suck. deal**


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